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May 11, 2012

5 reasons why not to fear a blogger conference or retreat

(this is the nametag i made for my secret fq retreat swap partner)

The Fat Quarterly 2012 retreat in London is coming nearer and some of my fellow attendees and yes, me too, are getting a bit anxious about the whole thing. Not in a really bad frightened way anxious, but still.

Last year i went to the first Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City. I was the only person coming from Europe and i knew nobody in person there. In preparation i bookmarked lots of blogs of attendees, read and commented on them for a while so that i had a bit of background info on some people. Other than that i just put a smile on my face and dove right into it.

And guess what: it was absolutely great!

I met several wonderful people who are now very dear to me. And everybody, really everybody was nice and friendly and easy to talk to.

That´s why i thought i´d list some good reasons as a reminder to me and maybe helpful info for newbies why not to be afraid of blogger conferences or retreats or the like.

1.) You will know what to talk about
Afraid of what to talk about? Repeat after me: we share the same hobby. Easiest thing is to compliment your fellow attendees on things they made or blogged about. If you can´t think of a compliment (really??), ask a question. You´ll get into talking really fast because you love the same craft!

2.) You can learn new stuff even outside of classes
What a great opportunity to learn about new techniques, share tips and tricks about sewing! I am totally selftaught and it was so much fun to sew together with others! One lady even taught me in a private session how to make Cathedral Windows - it was amazing!
Jot down questions you always wanted to ask some other sewist and just do it: ask around. People will be very generous with their knowledge.
3.) Your weight/size/clothes don´t matter
Trying to loose some pounds before the big event? Stop that right now (unless you are on a dietplan anyway, then proceed :-): no one will notice if you have some pounds more on than last year. Maybe someone will notice your pretty shirt but nobody will talk behind your back if you come in your old, comfy sewing clothes.
Though I guess this is different for fashion blogger meetings ... :-)
Trust me on that, we won´t care for "bad" looks - but will certainly find the time to compliment each other on our great looks!

4.) You won´t be a wallflower (unless you want to..)
You can wait around till somebody talks to you or you just can stroll around the rooms and talk to people. Most of us won´t know each other in person before the event so everybody will be happy to meet a new sewing friend. And as for conversation starters: go to point 1.

5.) Your sewing abilities will be perfectly fine
Even if you are a total newbie: that´s gonna be fine! We will be a group with so many skill levels there certainly will be one person with yours, too. And if not, just take your time, ask your questions (we sewists as a group tend to love to answer questions..) and work on your project. It´ll be fine!

In general: be friendly and outgoing. A smile on your face makes you less "frightening" - yes, you might "frighten" someone else, too. Ever thought about that?
We are all in this together (that sounds not at all like i wanted it to sound..), mostly share the same fears but, most importantly, share lots of dedication for sewing and quilting. We will get along perfectly fine, believe me!

Can´t wait to meet all of you in London, you´ll recognize me hopefully by the happy smile on my face :-)

Great post! I must admit that I'm a bit nervous - but not so much about meeting people. Moreso navigating London with a small toddler. Yikes that part is definitely making me nervous!Looking forward to meeting you & everybody :)

Ha, Judith and Claudia, here's another German! Thank you Claudia for your nice words. Infact I only met ONE real person that loves quilting - so London will be a paradise for me :o) Can't wait to meet you two and all the other real quilters over there!!

Hi, thanks for stopping by!I am Claudia from Munich, Germany, modern sewist and quilter, and a big fan of the internet. I work at an independent publishing house and publish books for creative people. Can´t get much better than that ... :-)Anything you want to tell me? Drop me a line atclaudia.machenundtun (at) yahoo (dot) de